After almost 3 years of putting a pause on this blog, we are back! We have SO much catching up to do!!
In fact...we have visited 15 countries since we last blogged AND we had our wedding! WHAT! I have re-branded our blog and changed the layout to update it a bit! We just returned home from a 21 day trip through The Netherlands, the UK and Ireland! So much great stuff to come, including blogs about our trips to:
Stay tuned! Thanks for reading! Until next time!! Ciao!
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WE ARE ENGAGED!!!! Despite the confusion on the plane and the "box" in his pocket, it ended up happening!! Jes, my sis and I went zip lining, while in Hawaii, and that's where it happened. We drove over to Hilo (the scenic route) and saw so many beautiful and neat areas along the way! Absolutely breathtaking!!! If you look close, there was an incredible waterfall! There were helicopter tours getting super close to the waterfall and that must have been so amazing! We had heard of these Portuguese malasadas (donuts) at a place along the way and decided to stop by. The place is called Tex Drive In and its in Honokaa, still on the big island. We ordered lunch there, as well as malasadas to eat there; and some to go! The food was incredibly delicious and the malasadas were, too! Jes and I shared the teriyaki beef burger and loved it!! We all tried and shared the plain, chocolate, guava, mango--well, actually we got one of each flavor! Ha ha! They were all very good, but very rich and sugary. We continued on over to Hilo. My mom and sister and her husband and baby didn't care to zip line. They had done it before so they chose to go to museums and walk around Hilo. It's quite a small town, but it is really cute. Jesse had told me that morning that I should do my hair and makeup a little because he really wanted to take pictures. It was his first time zipping and he was super excited. Kirst and I had been zip lining with the whole family, a few years ago in Maui, before my dad passed. It was unbelievable! We rode in a 15 passenger van for about 20 minutes to a remote location, in the "rainforest". Once we got there, there were peacocks and other wild birds all around. They were so cool!! We all got together and the tour guides talked to us for a while and then geared us up! Here is me and my sis, Kirst. The first few zips were very short, and close to the ground. It was a nice warm up. Gradually, the zip lines got longer and longer. I'm surprisingly terrified of heights!!! It was super scary just jumping off the ledge and zipping quickly through the air over canyons, ponds, and Honolii river. Since we had an odd number, we switched off and took turns with another party that had an odd number. The course had 8 lines!! We were so happy when we found out it had 8 lines because it does take a while to loosen up and get used to it. After the fourth line, we took a snack/bathroom break and tried some exotic fruits. The fourth line I road with Jes and about half way through, you turn around and basically the trees open up and there is this beautiful waterfall that appears!! It was so amazing! This next picture is me looking at the waterfall. We repelled down from the zip tower and tried some exotic fruit with our friend peacock. This is me trying a rambutan. It is this cool, prickly, pink ball fruit. The prickly outside doesn't hurt. Once you bite into it, there's this round ball inside that tastes like a grape. If you know what an EOS chapball is, this fruit looks just like that!! Jesse always likes to step away from the group, at times, and venture off for a second to look at nature. It's something I love about him. He suggested that we all go for a walk to explore before we went back to continue. As we were walking up the slope, a tour guide ran after us and said we needed a chaperone. Not thinking of it twice, we all laughed and I figured it was for liability reasons. We reached the top of the slope and Jesse wanted to take a picture. At the time, I was thinking 'wow, this would be an awesome engagement spot!'; but, we had already established that wasn't going to happen. Well, turns out my family AND Jesse were amazing actors!! I started to look over to see why he wasn't facing the camera, and why the heck the picture was taking so long. My sister was holding the GoPro the whole time. When I started to turn and look at him she'd say, "No, no! Look here! Take the picture, we have to go back!" She sounded normal, so I didn't look until he was just about down on one knee!! At this point I was like "!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!!!! HOW? WHAT?!!" I had so many questions, but they all seemed to be answered at once and nothing mattered. He had already asked if I would marry him. At this point all that came out was "NO WAY!!! Oh my gah!", because I was shocked and so surprised and didn't know what to do. Then my sister said, "Did she say no???" and the tour guide said, "SHE SAID NO?!!?" Then I replied with "no..I say YES!!!!! OF COURSE! YES." The ring is EXACTLY what I've always wanted. He spent some serious time trying to find the perfect diamond and I'm so beyond happy with it. He said his heart was beating so fast and the second he got down on his knee he completely forgot what he was going to say. All he ended up saying was "will you marry me?" It felt like he was on his knee forever!!! I honestly couldn't imagine a more perfect proposal. When we walked back to the break area, everyone was clapping and cheering for us. They were all watching us from afar and saw the whole thing. It turns out our "chaperone" just wanted to come along to record it and post it on their Facebook. On the fifth zip line, one of the tour guides suggested that we hold hands and do an "engaged zip", because it had never been done before. It was fun but actually kind of difficult. Made for cute pictures, though. After this fifth zip, we had three more and then went back to meet up with our family. The zip line tour we did was with Big Island Tours and Adventures, through the KapohoKine Adventure store, in downtown Hilo. We had such an amazing time!!!
In a future post I will put up extra pictures from the Hawaii trip. Thanks for reading! Until next time!! Ciao OH MY GOSH!!! It's been SO long and I've missed blogging! So I totally had something to post from like months ago so I will just post it now. Jes and I had an event to go to in Fallbrook, CA where we stayed in a timeshare with my family and babysat my adorable niece, Charlotte. She looks so young in this because she is now over 10 months old and walking! Anyway, the next day we wanted to go explore and we had seen an amazing abandoned house on the way. The road is Champagne Blvd, but on maps the little road the house is on is Boulder Knolls Rd. So, of course, we were going to go check it out no matter what--or so I thought. We drove up and there was a huge gate blocking us from driving in. There was also still a sign to sell the house, which obviously was old. We walked to the side of the gate, and headed up the dirt "driveway". Here are a few pictures of the beginning of our venture in. Despite the rock reading "BEWARE! HAUNTED HOUSE", it was actually quite eerie and empty. There was sadly a ton of destruction and graffiti inside and out. There was a second floor, but, sadly, there were several huge bee hives blocking us from going up there. Not only are bees terrifying to me, but I'm also allergic to them. Yikes! I thought of this giant wood palette-thing as a performance stage. I imagined living there as a teenager; making up dances and performing there with my sisters and friends! It was short lived once we turned around and saw the "guest house". Once Jesse stepped through the door way, he immediately told me to step back! There were a ton of huge, old bee hives. None were active, however. Biggest hives I've ever seen in my life!!! After we were done checking out the house and guest house, we headed towards the rest of the property. We also had to cross this crazy, terrifying bridge! I thought I was going to fall, for sure!! Jesse basically carried me across. There was a barn on the property that had tagging in it, but it also had life. There were plants growing inside the stalls. Now, it's jumpy pic time!! Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
Aloha! Since my immediate family live in 3 different states, we all got together, this year, in Hawaii. We considered it our Christmas since my older sis, her husband and their daughter weren't going to be with us on actual Christmas. We stayed in a timeshare on the big island, in Kona. Here are a few pictures from on our way to Hawaii, and once we got there. We took two planes, to get to Kona. The first was to Honolulu, and the second to Kona. The total time was about six hours. Once we got there, we grabbed our rental car and headed to Costco! Since we basically had 2 condos for the week, we stocked up on everything! We had a full van after that!!! People, luggage, and food everywhere! Our timeshare is called Wyndham Mauna Loa Village. It was, of course, stunning. We got two condos. Jesse, my mom, my sis and I stayed in the two story one. It had a master room, another large room, two bathrooms and a washer and dryer on the first floor. The second floor had a huge living room, a nice sized kitchen and a semi-wrap around balcony with a table and four chairs. Our view was spectacular! I'm pretty sure it's impossible to have a bad view in Hawaii. Funny, embarrassing story.. When we were on the plane I had a weird feeling that Jesse was going to propose on this trip. We know each other extremely well, and I just had an inkling. So, when we were on the second flight over, which is about 45 minutes, I saw a small box in his pocket. He seemed to immediately shove it back in his pocket once he took it out. I had horrible anxiety the entire flight and the few hours off the plane. I am someone who is a planner and I like to know what's going on. I felt thrilled, but, more nervous than anything. Anyway, I didn't tell anyone how I was feeling. I felt so nauseous and my stomach was so upset! A few hours later, we were settled into the timeshare, and it was about 9 P.M. Jesse went to take everything out of his pockets and you know I was watching him like a hawk!! He reached in, grabbed something and pulled it out. It was his phone. I started breathing heavier and stepped closer. I'm positive I looked so bizarre, just standing there staring at him. After nearly emptying his pockets, I knew there was still a box-type object in his front left pocket. He pulls his hand out again and it was.....a wall outlet for his phone charger!!!!! How could I be so dumb!? It's the same size and shape of a ring box! Utterly embarrassed, I eventually told him and he laughed so hard! He thought it was so funny and wanted me to tell me younger sis. I told her and she laughed and said 'ya, he wanted to propose, but he just didn't get a ring in time'. He went on to tell me the next day how sorry he was for not having a ring in time, and not proposing in beautiful Hawaii! Of course, I was a little sad, but mostly relieved! Moving on. We had some fun beach days and my niece had fun eating the sand. Hey, at least she's cute while doing it. Seriously, the only place I ever go in the water is Hawaii. Call me a brat. The water is incredibly clear, blue and warm. It wasn't as warm as I'm used to because we normally go in the summer, however; it's still perfection. We had fun for hours playing in the water and goofing around with the GoPro. I'm actually terrified of the ocean, but I love clear water because then I can see what's beneath me. Something you need to try many times in your life, is snorkeling!!! I have horrible anxiety whenever I snorkel, but after, I am so happy I did it. Like I said, the ocean is horrifying to me! The depths of the ocean, the creatures in it, and everything in between. I freak out every single time! But the beauty of it, sure is somethin' else! WOW. Yes, that is Jesse doing a back flip off the boat! They had cool slides and spots to jump off the boat. So fun! That is Jes with the GoPro sliding down the slide! Hah! The next picture is of my sis and I sliding down the slides! These are all screen shots of videos. The fourth night we were there, we went to a luau. This is a MUST when going to any of the Hawaiian islands!!! I'm seriously obsessed. Stay tuned for the second half of our trip! Thanks for reading!! Ciao
Hey guys! So recently, Jes and I went on yet another adventure. We ventured into an area of San Diego, called San Pasqual. I've always been in love with this area. There is a lot of farm land and gorgeous views, plus, there's abandoned things!! This post will mainly be pictures. Enjoy! We came across an abandoned house with two other structures on the property. We didn't go into these two buildings, but we went in their "warehouse". Seemed to be abandoned for quite some time. Before we left, we decided to take a stroll down the dirt road. Jumpy pic time!! The picture of the day just so happened to work out nicely, and be my favorite picture! I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
Welcome to Ensenada!! We got off the ship as early as possible, and took the shuttle "into town". The previous night, the couple from Hawaii had said their friend did the cruise, recently, and went horseback riding, in Ensenada, for $35! They were going to try and find the spot their friends found, and try it out. Jesse and I didn't have any set plans, so we synchronously decided we wanted to do that too. After taking the shuttle into town, we noticed our dining table friends were on the same shuttle! Fancy that! We hopped off on the same stop and spoke with the bus driver who, in turn, lead us in the right direction. We then hopped on a horse and carriage (!!!) to head toward our horseback riding adventure on the beach, or so we thought. About 15, or so, (extremely bumpy) minutes later, we arrived at the "horse ranch".. So, after looking oddly at each other, we got over it and each hopped on a horse. The original price that was actually told to us, by the carriage driver, was $35. However, once we each jumped on a horse, the price jumped to $45. We were all livid, to say the least, but we all submitted and didn't fight it. The horse ride was not quite a beach ride, nor was it very pleasant. The ride lasted an hour and didn't exactly fit our fancy, if you will. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it as much as we could. After that fiasco, a cab came and took the four of us to the other side of the island to La Bufadora. 21 miles south of the city is Punta Banda. In this peninsula lies La Bufadora; the largest marine geyser in the world. It is caused by the breaking of waves against a cave that is at the bottom of the cliff, reaching up to 65 feet, at times, in height. Every year, hundreds of grey whales migrate from the cold waters, in the north, to the warmer waters, in the south. Legends tell that many, many years ago, during a migration, a baby whale became separated from the group, while checking out the coastline. While wandering, it got stuck in the rocks. When searching for help, it decided to spurt water up larger and larger. Over time, the whale turned into stone, until it merged with the rocks at this location. Whether the story is right or wrong, the truth is that this site can be pretty incredible. Nature is so amazing, isn't it? So, we walked passed a fruit stand and not only did the fruit look delicious, but the pina coladas were to die for!!! Jesse bought a big pina colada, in a pineapple, for only $8. The best part was that it was only $2 to refill. This includes alcohol!! We always appreciate a good bargain. We enjoyed looking through and seeing what each vendor had to offer. The bus driver had told us that there are 500 shops at La Bufadora! We love window shopping and just appreciating our time together. Products ranged from knick-knacks, to alligator cowboy boots, to high end jewelry, to bottles of liquor. We stopped in a jewelry shop and Jesse got a beautiful sterling silver and titanium Michael Kors' watch. We made sure it was scratch resistant, and the man was extremely nice and generous. While debating whether Jes wanted to buy it, or not, the jeweler began filling up Jesse's (now empty) pineapple, with rare Cuban rum. He proceeded to tell us that not only can we not get it anywhere in the US, but it's actually illegal to bring anything from Cuba back into America. Jesse really liked the rum, and the nice man ended up giving him around 4 shots of it; complimentary. The vendors there are so nice, respectful, and willing to bargain with you. At La Bufadora, you can find real leather, silver and any other valuable you are looking to get a good deal on; whereas, in Ensenada, the silver is mostly fake and products are low in quality. Sadly, we went in the middle of the afternoon, so the geyser was basically just spitting. I would recommend going in the morning, because it will definitely be big. I feel that in the late afternoon is another good time to go, as well. Please excuse my hair. It was extremely windy. We decided to try some clam. It was only $4, and we shared one. It was really quite good!! It was fully cooked, topped with a dash of seasoning, cheese, and pico de gallo. We left La Bufadora, and headed back into town, in Ensenada. We walked around the shops a bit. Jesse had told me he wanted to get me a ring or necklace, so we started searching. After looking through a few stores, we finally found a ring we both love! We went into a store called The Silver Mine, and the man was so nice! We searched for a while and he explained where each stone was from. He worked with our price range, and informed us that all his jewelry is sterling silver. The ring I ended up with is a Mexican opal! It's extremely beautiful in the sun with violet, pink, and gold colors. I'm in love with my ring, and so grateful to Jes. Next stop was to get authentic Mexican food. Drawn in by carne asada kebobs, and fresh rotisserie chicken, on the grill; we stoped by El Charro. The host explained that it is a family owned business, and they are popular for their huge fresh rotisserie chicken, carne asada kebobs, chips and salsa, and homemade tortillas. We were sold. We ordered all of the above, plus, the most amazing cheese quesadilla of my life! The entire time we were there, these men were playing awesome Mexican music! Once the food came, I completely forgot to take pictures of it's beauty, because we were starving. Sorry, I guess you'll just have to go there yourself. Their carne asada was amazingly delicious!!! After our food coma began, we headed back to the ship to rest a bit before dinner. We were barely even hungry at dinner! We still wanted to try new foods and ordered meals anyway. The next day was a day at sea, before returning back to Long Beach to depart. We started a collection of our towel animals. Our last night on the ship, we dressed up and headed to dinner. We were sad it was the last day, since this vacation was so short. Going back to reality after a cruise is so rough. It was probably the hardest for Jesse, knowing he had to go back to 14 day work weeks, 10 hour days. My hard working man. We had an amazing time and are so grateful we got the opportunity and time we spent together!! Picture of the day is from after dinner. Jes and I are huge goofballs and he was joking around. Creepy Mexican chest hair nation. Thanks for reading!! Until next time. Ciao
Hey all! I apologize for not posting for over a month now. Jesse and I had not been able to hike or travel much, until this last weekend! We went on our first cruise together to both Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico! We had such an amazing time and it, of course, went by too fast. I have been fortunate to have been on many cruises before, but this was Jesse's first cruise! We are so excited to share our relaxing and exciting vacation with you all! We woke up super early, zealous to begin our vacation. As I'm typing this, I am getting that electrifying feeling back. Man, is it a good feeling! We drove up to Long Beach and paid way too much to leave our car parked there for four days. We eagerly left the parking structure with all of our luggage. Of course, Jesse is so wonderful he just threw his bag on top of mine and looked extra masculine as we opted out of having our luggage delivered to our room; and carried it on himself. We had to wait for almost 2 hours in lines and such, until we could get on the ship. When we finally got on, we basically ran to our room to put everything down and tour the ship. Say "hello" to our room! His name is U3. The first day was awesome and we enjoyed walking around the ship, taking pictures, and watching the ship leave the port; and head to Santa Catalina Island! There was this awesome section with mini golf!! We were so excited, and definitely played; among all of the 5 year olds! Oops, we'll always be children at heart. This picture shows downtown Long Beach, The Queen Mary, our ship, and the baby tug boat getting ready to assist us out to sea! This next picture is the pavilion dome-thing we waited in for almost two hours. The bridge is what we walked across to get aboard the ship. 6PM was our scheduled formal dinner time. We sat at a round table in the Mardi Gras dining room. We were so fortunate to have had a table full of amazing people. We only got one picture of some of the table, and Jesse moved as he took it. We were embarrassed to ask to take a picture again. This picture was literally taken right after I barely got seated for the first time, and no one at the table talked for like 15 minutes. The people I sat next to had just gotten married, and were on their honeymoon. They are from Anchorage, Alaska and were so nice and friendly. The couple next to them had been married for exactly a year, and live in Hawaii. They are originally from Arizona and Utah, but moved to Hawaii for work. We ended up hanging out with them later, and seeing what awesome and genuine people they are. Next to them (not pictured) was a woman and her daughter. Her daughter was about 16 and was constantly running off with her friends she met on the ship. The woman,though, was so interesting. Jesse knew from the moment she sat down that she was someone of importance; and he was right. She is in the army, and works at the pentagon; full of so many amazing stories. The last two seats were taken by another newlywed couple who were on their honeymoon as well. This couple live in Freso area and were kind, but less censored (if you will). LOL. Welcome to Catalina!!!Since the water is shallow near the dock, we had to take a boat over to shore. Please excuse these next few pictures. I had a little fun with the flag. Ever since Jesse and I have been dating, I notice flags a lot more, because he loves them. Typical. LOL. So, we were just in Catalina for two days and one night, five months ago. Last time we were there, we rented a golf cart for $60 (you get $20 back when you return it) for one hour and did the tour of Avalon. It was actually totally worth it, as we were super hesitant to spend that much. It was fun, and you get to see some really beautiful views; driving up the mountain. We also visited the Botanical Gardens and the Wrigley Memorial last time, and fell in love with the view from the memorial. We chose to go back to the gardens and spend some time there again. We rode the trolley for two dollars each, each way, and went up to the gardens and memorial. When we were at the gardens last time, we had such an amazing time. If you make it to the top, it's extremely peaceful and beautiful. I believe it's about $6 each to get inside, which includes both the gardens and the memorial. This is definitely worth the $6 each! Since Jesse is active duty military, we actually both get in free! We love this place even more because of this. We are so appreciative anytime he gets any type of discount for being in the military. He is quite a humble person, and does not think he does anything to deserve this special treatment, but I know he deserves it, and so much more. :) Lets look at the gardens! The Botanical Memorial Garden is extremely unique. It has a wide variety of cacti and succulents from all around the world, and features plants endemic to the California islands. All of the island's known endemic plants are on display! These endemics grow naturally only in Catalina and nowhere else in the world!!! There is cacti here that I couldn't have even imagined to be real! After the gardens, we then made our way to the lovely memorial. The detail is incredible, along with the view. However, you must climb to the top and check out the view from there! The blue flagstone rock on the ramp (and on both the terraces of the tower) is a natural product of Catalina. It came from Little Harbor. The Wrigley memorial is dedicated to the memory of William Wrigley Jr. Wrigley Jr. was a U.S. chewing gum industrialist. He was founder and eponym of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, in 1891. Construction for the building began in 1933, and the structure was compete in 1934. The building stands 232 feet wide, 180 feet deep, and 130 feet high, from the bottom of its circular stairway to the very top of its main 80 foot tower. The structure is dedicated as a memorial to Wrigley Jr., who in 1919 recognized the potential of Santa Catalina Island, as a nature preserve. He then took the initial steps needed, to save and protect the island, its wildlife, and its historical artifacts. Thank you, Mr. Wrigley. These bronze doors were created to exact specifications for the memorial. They are made of only the best quality architectural bronze, and the best quality statuary bronze (90% copper). Sitting up top here, gives you the best view. Or maybe it's just me. :) We eventually left the memorial and took the trolley back to the ship. This is the hotel we stayed in last time: Hotel St. Lauren. It is so nice and cute!! I'm obsessed with anything Victorian style. The location is so nice and we even found it for cheap, on Groupon. Bye-bye, Santa Catalina Island!! The next stop on our cruise--Ensenada, Mexico. Stay tuned tomorrow to see what we did in Ensenada. Let's just say there were horses, and we ate clams! Dun, dun, dun. Picture of the day is of my Jesse. We were so beyond excited to board the ship, that he swung around a pole with glee! LOL Thanks for reading!! Until next time. Ciao
Hey there! So it seems that we have one last post from our Arizona trip! It's the craziest, creepiest one of them all! The area this weird community was in, is called Desert Center. On our way home, before we reached Desert Center, we stopped by the "shoe tree" and left some shoes in our name :). We also found a few other cool things. Many miles later, we finally reached Desert Center. We didn't exactly know what we were going to find here, but we knew it was a deserted town. I have passed it many times, and always wanted to stop and check things out! We stopped at the Cafe, along the highway, and soon found an entire abandoned community near it! We took a dirt road and eventually came upon what we found to be the creepiest "town" we'd ever been in. The dirt road led us to pass a huge warehouse, drive-up loading docks, sheds, over 65 "houses", many more abandoned buildings, a barn, a big building and a few trailers. We also came across a pool and tons of strange cement basin-type things. This place was so unexplainable, not even the photos do it justice! We drove all the way to the end, and worked our way to the exit. Surprisingly, this entire "community" was mostly untouched! It was incredible to finally come across something abandoned, without it being completely tagged and vandalized. The inside of this building was super dark and eerie. We used the built-in flash on my Canon to take the pictures. Is it weird that I expected to look back at these pictures and see a dead body or a ghost or something?? We couldn't see anything, so I didn't really know what the inside looked like, until I looked back at the pictures later. The first small building we came across was one with barred windows and a single chair inside. We called this "the punishment room". Seemed appropriate. We then moved along to the 65-some "houses" that were beyond strange to us. I still, to this day, feel creeped out by them. What in the world were these odd structures for? We think someone had stacked all the beds in one house and then all the rest of the items from each house into another. So for literally the last 10 days I have been researching this area and could not find anything!!! I was getting so frustrated and was about to give up, when I finally figured something out. I decided to drop a pin on one of the buildings, via cell phone. I searched the address and nothing but real estate websites came up. Most of them said this, "Flat 318.95 acre parcel. Great location -flat parcel with great potential. Easily farm crops and fish - previously used to farm asparagus, jojoba, grapefruit and tilapia. Utilities and facilities in place. Gas, electrical, phone and septic system on property. Water provided by well and easily distributed to irrigation system (over 22 miles), faucets and hydrants throughout property, in addition to the 27 concrete, in-ground fish tanks and 3 levee ponds. Commercial scale packing and shipping operation possible with sizeable covered packing area and large walk-in refrigerator with drive-up loading docks. Easy freeway access, minutes from I-10. Property includes single-family residence. Potential uses: nurseries, orchards field crops, grazing farm animals, packaging plants, guest ranches, tennis clubs, golf courses, relay towers, distribution center, etc." This place is still extremely strange to me, and I want to know more! What are those 65+ "houses" used for? What large materials were they bringing in to the loading area? I found that it may have been called FBI Farms, or Jatropha Plantation. I believe it closed around 2009. I also found that the Jatropha seeds were used to produce biodiesel. The large cement basins were part of their aquaponic system. Water was pumped from their well into the fish tanks. From there, the water went into the nursery field and then into the dirt ponds. From the dirt ponds, it stayed until they needed it in the main fields. The system allowed them to make an organic fertilizer. I just want to know more!! Some things may forever remain unanswered. Oh well. Want to see our jumpy pics? My picture of the day is one that I feel explains this bizarre place. It just gives the vibe of how strange it was to see nearly 70 "houses" lined up. These houses were tiny, too! Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
On our way home from Kingman, we stopped off at a ghost town; Oatman. We drove along Route 66 for a while and enjoyed the scenery, before reaching Oatman. We found an old mine right off a windy part of the 66. It was so, so neat! We wanted to go inside, but it was too far down and dangerous to get to. Oatman is a former mining town, in the Mohave County, of Arizona. At an elevation of 2,700 feet, the town became known in 1915 when prospectors found $10 million in gold. Within the course of a year, the population of the town hit 3,500. The town had several other names, but was named Oatman, in honor of Olive Oatman. Olive was a young girl from Illinois, who was taken captive by the Yavapai Indians and forced to work as a slave. She was later traded and adopted by the Mohave Indians, who then tattooed her face to represent the tribe. In 1855, she was released near the current location of the town Oatman. Today, wild Burros roam the streets and can be fed with carrots, purchased in the town. This restaurant is covered top to bottom with signed dollar bills!! There are thousands!!! Oatman is definitely a fun place to visit! It's great for kids and it's awesome on the weekend, because they have little skits in the street and car shows. The picture of the day is one that made us laugh so hard. Jesse wanted to get some kettle corn. The burros were waiting, so he waited in line with them ;) Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
Throughout our trip to Arizona, our plan was to be as adventurous as we could, do as much as possible, spend time with family, and visit any/all abandoned things in Kingman (and along the way). I'd have to say, we were very successful! I am so pleased with how the trip went, and the fact that we got to spend some great time with my sis, her husband and their baby! The day I'm writing about today, is one of our favorite days, in Kingman. We started out the day trying to first find an abandoned community of houses. We couldn't find it, but we found a cool house along the way. We continued on to find what we had heard was called Luana's Canyon AKA Slaughterhouse Canyon. The story goes something like this... During the 1800's and the gold rush days, a gold miner and family lived in the canyon; in a small wooden shack. The husband would venture out, via mule, into the mountains to search for gold and gather food for him and his family. His wife Luana stayed home to care for their children. One month, the husband never returned. Soon, the family began to starve. Luana lost her mind, unable to watch her children continue to starve. After murdering her children, Luana put on her wedding dress, during a rainstorm, and chopped up her children. She chopped them into several piece, went to the river and tossed their remains in the stream. The next morning she returned and died while mourning the loss of her children. Tales are still told that some days you can hear her crying within the canyon. Sadly, the wooden house is no longer there. We were very disappointed after spending literally hours trying to find it. Hmph, on to the next adventure! Jesse and I, my sis, her two friends, my niece, and my brother-in-law took my brother-in-law's big truck and went off roading. We were in search of finding an abandoned mansion we had heard about. We were dying to go ever since we heard of it!! We didn't have perfect directions, and barely had cell service! It took us about an hour to get to a point where we had to stop because the truck couldn't go any further. The trail was too narrow and too rocky. We all ended up walking (except baby Charlotte) about 2 miles, until we found the mansion. Even though it was 90+ degrees, we still enjoyed our hike. Our first encounter was with this cow, in the middle of the road! He eventually moved. LOL. I will include the directions, at the bottom of this post. Like I said, we parked the truck under a shady tree and started our hike. We all found it so neat that there was water, as we got closer to the mansion! The sun was beating down and shining so brightly! Some pictures, unfortunately, have sun spots. :( And finally....THE MANSION!!!.. I fell in love with the arched doorways, the vines leading up the mansion; and how well preserved the building was! History lesson: In 1929, during the Great Depression, the two-story mansion was built. Built by the Gold King Corporation, the structure is made up of 6-inch reinforced concrete, high arched windows and doors, and some beautiful wall decor (that still exists). The mansion was built to entertain wealthy investors as well as the mine foreman. The Gold King Mine produced gold, silver, copper, and lead. Sadly, production never reached the level the miners had hoped for. In October 1929, the stock market crashed and brought an end to the mine and beautiful mansion. The Hualapai 4 Wheelers have since adopted the mansion, in order to keep it vandal- and trash-free. We walked over to explore the mine and found a few rusty sheds, spread out, and several large holes (about 15 feet?) There is no longer any glass left, but the building was surprisingly very well preserved! The Moss Mansion and Gold King MineThe mine was actually quite difficult to get to. It was up a very steep hill, full of slippery sand and rocks. That is what is left of the main mine. Like I said earlier, there were multiple, but this was the larger one. Now, here is the only picture (I think in existence) of the mansion and mine, in working use. (Sorry for the poor quality!) Directions to The Gold King Mansion and Mine: [Please note: This route to the mansion must be done in either a 4-wheeler truck or jeep,or some type of quad/desert vehicle.] Head East on the I-40, from Kingman Take the Blake Ranch Road exit, and drive roughly 10 miles, until you reach this sign.. Once you reach this sign, turn right onto the dirt trail road. Drive as far as you can, and hike the rest of the way. There are definitely some tricky parts to get through. Good luck! The picture of the day is one that is quite special! It is our very first jumpy picture together!!! YAY! Thanks for reading!! We have one more post from our Arizona trip. Until next time, Ciao Hey there! So, this is going to be a quick post of an abandoned house Jesse and I found off of Hualapai, in Kingman AZ. This house isn't very old, and no one ever lived in it. The house wasn't quite finished when it was deserted. I love this style and the cool rustic shed, in the backyard. Enjoy! So we first drove on Hualapai Mountain Road to see what the beautiful mountains had to offer. During the winter, these mountains are beautifully covered in white snow! We brought along my niece, Audi, so she could ride in the car and stick her head out the window to enjoy the scenery too! :) (She's a German Short-Haired Pointer!) Is she not the cutest?!! I love her so much!!! Cutest, sweetest dog ever! After we enjoyed the view, we headed to an abandoned house we saw along the way. So this house has been abandoned for a few years now, and as you can see, people have destroyed it a bit. The biggest vandals in this house? Birds. Birds have taken over and moved into this house. Never have I ever seen this many bird feathers, in my life! Even though the house was unfinished, I loved the wrought iron throughout, with horse shoes on it! Although the house wasn't old, creepy and was infested with birds, it was still quite neat!! Picture of the day.... Thanks for reading!! Until next time! Ciao Today was such an eventful day! On top of what I'm about to tell you we did, we also drove in 3 states AND went to Calico Ghost Town! So awesome, though. So after Calico, we kept on truckin' and made our way to what I call Lake Dolores and Rock-A-Hoola. This is an abandoned water park that has been abandoned since 2004. It used to be so awesome when it was first abandoned, because it wasn't so destroyed and tagged up. It made me so sad walking through the park because I hate that people are so destructive. Anyway, I hope these pictures can give you insight on just how cool this water park used to be! I'll include a few original photos from when it was at its prime. For a quick history lesson on Rock-A-Hoola... The waterpark is located in Newberry Springs, just off the 15; in the Mohave Desert. In the '50's, a man named Bob Byers purchased the land and built a man-made lake, which he named Lake Dolores; after his wife. Within a decade, a small camp ground near the lake was opened to the public. The site evolved into a waterpark within the next 25 years. Many rides and attractions were added in order to lure in people traveling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the late 1980's the park closed, due to a downturn in the popularity. Byer's sold the then deserted waterpark in 1990 to a business trio, who had plans to grow the park. In 1998 the park was renamed "Rock-A-Hoola" and was known for the constant playing of rock and roll music. In only three seasons of the park re-opening, the trio were already three million dollars in debt! In 2000, they filed for bankrupsy. The property was then returned to Dolores Byers (Bob Byers died in '96). A month before her death, Dolores sold the property, in 2001, to an investment group. The park was renamed "Discovery Park" and had $400,000 in renovations. After cutting back hours and only being open on weekends, the park closed in 2004. So, we found a huge piece of glass, propped it up on a wall in the "Locker Room", and took a selfie! Now, I want you to see a few old pictures of the park, when it was in its prime! And now for the jumpy pictures! Directions: I took the 15 toward Vegas, exited Harvard Road and turned left onto Harvard Road, crossed over the freeway and turned left onto Hacienda Road. Take that road all the way until you see the water park on your right. Arne's Royal Hawaiian MotelArne's Royal Hawaiian Motel opened in 1957 as a motel for people to stay in, when passing through a town called Baker. Baker is just off the interstate 15. The hotel had 43 rooms in multiple buildings, two-stories, a pool and a game room. According to reviews, this hotel was a 1-2 star motel and was in horrible staying conditions. The motel was abandoned in 2009. Despite how apparently disgusting this motel was, what remains is pretty cool. If you are familiar with Bates Motel, this motel definitely resembles it quite well. The hotel was known for having a tropical tiki theme throughout, with retro furniture. Address: 7940 West Baker Boulevard, Baker, CA 92309 What an eventful day it was!!!
Thanks for reading!! Until next time, Ciao This weekend, Jesse and I decided to make a trip to Kingman, Arizona; where my sister, her husband and baby live. We chose to drive through Vegas on our way there. While driving, I spotted a ghost town called Calico; so we exited Ghost Town Road, off the 15. Intrigued, we drove about 4 miles and found the site. We didn't know what to expect, but, what we found was definitely what we wanted to see! We paid $8 each, and made our way in to park and explore. If you are unfamiliar with Calico, it is an old mining town that has been around since 1881. The founders named it 'Calico', due to the peak being "calico-colored". It once held 500 mines and produced over $20 million in silver. At its prime, Calico had three hotels, five general stores, a meat market, brothels, bars and three restaurants and boarding houses. In 1890, the estimated population of the town was 3,500! Around 1986 was when silver lost its value and Calico lost its population. All miners packed up and moved away, leaving the town abandoned. Calico then became a "ghost town". In an attempt to revive the once booming town, a cyanide plant was put in, in 1915; to recover silver. Walter Knott, founder of Knott's Berry Farm, later purchased Calico in hopes of returning it to its original condition. The town was donated, in 1966, to San Bernardino County, thus making Calico a County Regional Park. In 2005, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed Calico as "California's Silver Rush Ghost Town. This next building I was in love with!! Besides staple building materials needed, this structure is made of hundreds of glass bottles! The art it created was so beautiful to my eyes!! Enjoy.. Inside was actually a doggy store full of all types of dog treats, cookies, food and clothing. So random... Until next time, Calico! The picture of the day is from the glass bottle building. As I was walking out, I looked up and the bottles in the wall looked as if they were glowing. After I took this particular picture, I realized they looked as though they were right-side-up. Thanks for reading!! Until next time, Ciao
Hey there! Jesse and I have been so busy lately, we haven't had time to hike. He randomly had 2 days off, so, naturally, we jam packed those days with fun activities! We had been dying to go out to Jacumba and hike to all the abandoned trains out there! Tuesday was beyond perfect to go! Jesse packed his giant "survival backpack" (as usual) and we headed to Jacumba. We drove to DeAnza Springs Resort (a clothing optional community), paid $5 to park all day, and started our hike! We honestly walked through bushes to get to the railroad tracks, and then walked along them the entire time. It's not too difficult to find. We chose to bring along one bike, since I have bad knees and was slightly worried about the 14 mile round trip hike. We ended up only hiking about 7 miles total; choosing not to go all the way. Less than a mile in, you'll come across the first abandoned train. We spent a good amount of time inside and on top of this train. So awesome and fun!! Some of the seats had tiny mattresses. LOL. I love all the spirals, though!! We found several bird's nests. Jesse shrieked when he realized the birds were alive and inside one of them! I'm not sure why I found it so cool that it was a two story train! He's always such a gentleman!! All of the hues were muted and gave off an 80's vibe. It was a tad eerie, but fascinating more than anything. We made our way to the front of the train and found all of the control panels. The textures and colors of the entire train came across as a form of art to my eyes. So engaging and fascinating. We searched everywhere to find a date to figure out how old this train is. We finally found one stamped on a window in the control room, dated '81. Jes was dying to go on top of the train so we made our way up, before we continued on the hike. [Please note: I am terrified of heights!!] Please excuse my hair. To say it was a windy day is an understatement. And now for our goofy-adventurous side, if you will. Am I allowed to have bragging rights? ;) I do call him "Mr. Perfect" for a reason! On to the rest of our train journey. There are many bridges, but it is extremely peaceful out there! Never count me out. We enjoyed the beautiful patterns in the mountains. An alluring mountainous view. Jesse wanted to 'capture my face' when I saw where we were heading next.. By the looks of this one, it was definitely older than the last, and possibly from Mexico. We sat for a little while, on the train, ate a snack, and played music on Jesse's phone. We saw a bird's nest above the door, by where we were sitting, and suddenly the birds woke up. I sat on Jesse's shoulders to get a picture of them! So cute, yet creepy lookin'!! Don't worry, I just used spit to write our name on the train. Left me with a few blue-stained fingers, LOL. We both wanted to continue on, but the wind was at least over 80 mph. It was not only cold, but pushing us over..even Jesse!! At times it was hard to walk and even ride the bike. We made it back to the first train and took more jumpy pictures. We most definitely want to come back and do the entire hike! There is much more to this hike that we did not see. After leaving, we knew we would drive passed the Golden Acorn Casino, so we stopped in. They didn't have any deals for signing up, so we decided to walk over to a restaurant and check out the $7.77 Prime Rib Dinner. Sounds unappealing to me, but we just had to. It's funny how minor things entertain us, and draw us in. The dinner came with either soup or salad (we chose the sausage soup) and the sides we got were mashed potatoes and "veggies". The mashed potatoes were actually quite good. My meat was super dry, the soup was good, and the green beans were soaked in butter. Oh well, at least we can say we ate the $7.77 dinner, right? HAHA! Picture of the day? Our prime rib dinner...LOL! Thanks for reading!! Until next time! Ciao
Happy Earth Day! That picture is from Easter, on our stroll through Barnett. Yesterday, Jes had the day off and we wanted to do an all day adventure, before we met with my pastor; for coffee, at 6! We decided to venture to Julian and get pie. We didn't have much of a plan. We drove up and our first stop was in Santa Ysabel, at Dudley's Bakery. I grew up eating Dudley's bread and it always makes me feel warm inside when I go there. After a wonderful service at church, for Easter, these crosses really stood out to us both.. As this picture says, Dudley's was founded in 1963. Dudley Pratt was a middle aged expert baker who had previous bakeries and wanted to start one in Santa Ysabel. After receiving criticism on the bakery being "too far away" he soon had customers traveling from near and far to taste his delicious breads, fruit bars, and pastries. Every Summer, Mr. Dudley Pratt would close the store for two months, to travel to Europe and get inspiration. He would search long and far for delicious and unique breads, pastries, cafes and more to find the perfect flavors to adapt to his menu; to please his customers. Ten years after opening the bakery, Dudley Pratt passed away. The bakery still prides itself on doing things the Dudley way. Quality, taste, uniqueness and freshness is their hallmark. The bakery now produces thousands of loaves of bread a day, and provides deliciousness to many bakeries and grocers all over San Diego County. After visiting Dudley's, we trucked along and made our way to Julian. We took a few delightful pictures along the way. It really was a beautiful day! Our first stop, in Julian, was the Julian Jail. This used to be my favorite place to go and peek in to. Before, they had the door open and a gate, so people could peer in and imagine being a criminal back in 1914. They have since closed the door and blocked off the window. It's sad that others have to ruin it for people like us, who aren't planning on throwing our trash in there; but, simply enjoying history. We continued driving and saw a sign for Lake Cuyamaca. We both hadn't been in a long time, and decided to explore that area. I was amazed with how beautiful it is, once we started driving around to the other side of the lake. The sun glistening off the water, the clear blue skies and my best friend by my side..how could I feel any happier??! We both glanced into the water at the water toys we could rent, and we knew then what we were doing for the day! The winds were considered "strong", so we couldn't rent anything other than a motor boat. We were so excited, since neither of us had rented a motor boat before. With Jesse's military discount, it was only $25 for a half day! Not bad! We went into the restaurant next to the rental shop, bought a veggie sandwich and headed down to the dock. Say "hello" to our little blue boat! We both knew I didn't have a clue what I was doing, if I was captain; so, from then on, I referred to him as Captain Jesse. It was so lovely to just sit back, take pictures, and enjoy the beautiful day. Knowing at the beginning of the day we had no idea we would be doing this, made it even more fun! Being spontaneous and enjoying life, really is the way to live. We went around for a bit, docked the boat on an "island", and enjoyed our lunch. Please excuse my "candid" moments. I prefer to be behind the camera, not in front. ;) After eating, we started our hike, on the "island". And now for our jumpy pics! I apologize for mine being blurry. We returned the boat, and made it back to Julian in time for pie!! We ordered one slice of Dutch Apple with a scoop of cinnamon. We will definitely be back!! Picture of the day is of two huge frogs we saw while leaning over the edge of the wooden bridge. They were SO big. I think they were fake, but Jesse thinks they're real. Who knows... Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
HAPPY EASTER!!! We have been busy lately, so we haven't gotten to explore or blog as much. Today, we went to church and then had brunch with my mom and grandma, at my grandma's house. How adorable is my gram? She made my mom, Jesse and I Easter bags full of chocolates! Yum. But, OH MY! How adorable is my 1-month old niece in her Easter outfit! AHH! Can't handle it!!! Yesterday, Jesse and I got a booth at Kobey's Swap Meet, here in San Diego, and sold a bunch of our old stuff!! It was a long day! We came out of it with a decent amount of money, and almost 10 hours of selling. We both got so burnt! This Icee helped, though... Back to today. We had a very lovely morning with my family. We realized we could either: A. Take a nap and be lazy, or B. Hike and be productive. One severe food coma later, we chose to hike. We ventured to Barnett Ranch, in Ramona. It was more of a relaxed evening stroll, but we really enjoyed every minute of it! A bit of history (if you care): Augustus Barnett and his wife, Martha moved west, as he established himself as a pronounced businessman, in Cleveland, from around 1825-1840. The couple moved to San Diego in 1875. Barnett Ranch was built in 1877, in Ramona. The property was a working cattle ranch for over 100 years. Much of the vegetation is native and non-native grassland. The Preserve actually spans 728 acresThe Barnetts were important to the expanding of ramona; including gifting the Ramona Town Hall, on Main Street. There are two trails to choose from, but we started on the first trail we reached, on our left-hand side, and did the full loop. It is all flat, no steep hills, and I think it is 2.5 miles round trip. All of the beautiful greens and blues were overwhelming, yet calming. We fell in love with this spot to do our jump because of the greenery, the visual of the trail, and the picnic table on the other side! So peaceful!! We sat and enjoyed the view for a while and chatted. When we started walking over to this area, we heard a huge group of coyotes howling, not too far away. So many beautiful green hues!!! Jesse said this tree looked like alligator skin! Lol. Spike-y area of doom!!! Here's a coyote and his 4 friends waiting for him. He tried staring us down with intimidation. The trail was overall extremely peaceful. The weather was perfect and we ended up having a delightful day, all around! This is such a nice tranquil trail. It was also a bit romantic. Picture of the day is of my cat, Mr. Barnes. Thanks for reading! Until next time! Ciao
The flowers on my back deck are so beautiful right now!! I get distracted by them daily! Back to the topic of the day. I've always had a serious fascination for all things abandoned. It's so eerie and intriguing. I grew up watching tons of scary movies with my dad, so infatuated with mystery. I received my BS in fashion business marketing, almost a year ago, and was fortunate enough to do an abandoned-themed photoshoot. This photoshoot was maybe two years ago and I found this abandoned bus, while searching for interesting abandoned locations, in SD. Here are a few pictures from my photoshoot. Photo credit: Kerstin Winter Back to 2014. So, I've been wanting to come out here again, and yesterday we made that happen! The area is Sycamore Canyon Test Facility. It's actually restricted government property. My bad. But it's just so cool, how can I not? Anyway, the day was fairly warm weather! Probably in the low 80's. It's a few miles to hike out to it, and super creepy the whole time. Since it's government property, I feared the entire time that they would either come out with guns and warn us off the property, or a helicopter would land near us. Neither happened, thankfully. [Please note: When we are on property that is considered "risky", like this, we are not destructive nor are we disrespectful. Again, please keep in mind nature can be fragile.] My curious George. We couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Still so cool, though! We continued on the trail, with our destination in site: building 4 and the abandoned bus. The last time I was here, this building was open. You were able to go inside. I didn't go inside, which now I'm sad, since it's bolted shut. Awwwww :) This structure is so strange. We weren't sure what it was for, since there was no door to go inside it. Jesse found this melted glass down there, that we thought was pretty neat. Building 4 also has a "7" on it, along with an alarm. We guessed that a lot of this property was used as a shooting range, hence these "tables", that went on a path, for a while. oh, hello...ironic There were bee hives everywhere, in the broken pipes!!! Luckily, I had my EpiPen, just in case! It ended up being quite peaceful to just sit and chat; although, the whole time I was a bit paranoid. And now, time for our jumpy pics! We started heading back, and stopped at a rusty old water tower. My monkey had to climb. Climbing a water tower was something he always had on his bucket list! We were hungry, so, we decided to head back to the car. We ended up grabbing Chinese food and eating it at Mira Mar lake. A wonderful end to the day!! Picture of the day is rusty barbed wire. We had to walk through it on our way out. I've always had an attraction to anything rusty, as well as barbed wire. Call me weird. Thanks for reading! Until next time. Ciao
Yesterday, Jesse got off work at 4, so we decided to find adventure somewhere new. If you have ever driven south on the 5, in Encinitas, and looked right, you have probably noticed a lagoon. Also next to the lagoon are these cliffs. To me, these cliffs look nothing more than just boring old cliffs with tons of brush around them. Boy, was I wrong!!! This location is incredible, and nothing like what I ever expected! Lets start from the beginning. I Googled how to find the trail and where to park. I couldn't find the answer I was looking for. I found that the area is called San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve. So, naturally, I just mapped it on my phone. What came up was, to me, the place to go: San Elijo Lagoon County Park. We exited the freeway, drove to the end of the road and got out; so excited for our adventure. We found this trail, (AKA not the one we wanted) but still a cool trail. So, back on the road we went. We exited Manchester, turned left, and parked in Mira Costa College parking (after asking the police officer if that was alright). We crossed the street and were shocked to find... DEER!! Who would have thought?? Now, I'm trusting you with telling you these directions, in hopes that you will not disrespect nature, in ANY way!!! I want others to enjoy it, like Jesse and I did. Please don't litter, carve or destroy the nature. We continued on, until we found this fence. A jogger was coming toward the fence from the other side, so we crossed through. How pretty is that? I love hot air balloons! We passed parts of the lagoon and I am now convinced that the Loch Ness Monster lives in the lagoon!! (Ok, not really, but something creepy like it!) Not only did we see at least 3 snake-like creatures, but we saw, and mostly heard, more under the bridge. And, no, it wasn't our imagination, or ducks, ok?! We continued on the path, reached another fence, walked along the trail, and finally reached the bridge. You want to walk under the freeway bridge. My anxiety was pretty high, because it was nearing 7PM, so the sun wasn't going to be up much longer. We had a ways to go, and still wanted to enjoy it. So, we started jogging. There were two trail options, after the bridge. Take the right path. We did pass a few of these. Oops. Sorry mom. The true thrill, lay behind the yellow signs.. Of course, my monkey had to climb. :) Ah, my dangerous monkey scares me sometimes. I had to tell him to get down, 'cause he didn't realize how high he had climbed!! I considered doing some climbing of my own, but then I thought, mmm..better not! Lol Like I said, some parts get extremely narrow! I was beyond excited when I realized we had made it to the top in time to watch the sun set!! Sadly, we had problems taking motion shots :( But it was still fun. We do this jump everywhere. We were sad to leave this beautiful site, but it was getting so dark and creepy, we had to! Something you must know about me is that I am terrified of the dark!! Yes, I will openly admit that. Mind you, it was basically pitch black on our way back. We chose to take a different way back, due to the fact that it was a bit quicker, and the other way back didn't seem too appealing. At one point I was basically on Jesse's back as he macheted through "the forest", with his hands and body. We sometimes choose to make our own trail. (respecting the wildlife, obviously) Famished when we finally reached the car, we decided to stop and grab a bite at The Habit, off Lomas Santa Fe. This place is amazing! Awesomely delicious food, super cheap (like In-n-out) and unbelievable shakes and malts. The Habit Burger Grill was established in 1969, in Santa Barbara! They donate to various charities, schools, food banks, humane societies and more. I ordered the strawberry milkshake with a charburger + avocado. MMM! The best part? They have caramelized onions on their burgers!! Heaven! Jesse got the teriyaki charburger, which has pineapple; and he also got the chocolate malt. All in all, another amazing adventure. Now, here is my favorite picture of the day! Thanks for reading! Until next time! Ciao
So, Jesse and I have been talking for a while about doing this hike, but just haven't done it; merely because it is such a far drive. We have done Devil's Punch Bowl, (I'll blog about it later) and have been wanting to do Three Sisters together too! Now, mind you, I grew up hiking with my dad. I have done many hikes, and don't consider myself a beginner, nor advanced. With that, I am going to tell you this hike was HARD! The difficulty level is very high. At certain points in the hike I was actually scared. It gets incredibly steep, and is NOT for beginners OR people who aren't prepared. Jesse and I even saw a tourist with flip flops on!!! Anyway, we began our journey with a late start, and then chose to stop off at the Viejas Outlets, which were oh so conveniently on the way! We have a thing about matching our shoes and clothes sometimes, so, we got matching Nike's from the Nike outlet. I'm in looove!! Can you tell we're obsessed?? Lol. After being distracted at the store for probably an hour and a half, we finished the rest of our journey, to the three falls. We ended up getting super lost and our maps wasn't working, since there was zero service. We wandered a bit, until we received service and found the right direction. Before approaching the hike, we came across a really cool (but extremely creepy) abandoned house and old truck. The house was super eerie as we reached it. I had an uncomfortable sense that someone was watching us. Of course, Jesse being Jesse, goes, "Oh, I'm sorry about that, sir" as he was stepping in the house. Gullible little me actually believed him for a few (long) seconds, thinking someone was actually in the house, before he burst into laughter and hopped through the front "door". The door was on the ground outside. The house was destroyed inside. Other nosey people, like us, had come in and trashed the place, I assume. After being totally grossed out by rat poo EVERYWHERE and creeped out by just walking through, I finally sprinted out. I found myself at the abandoned truck. PLEASE NOTE: The quality of the pictures in this whole post aren't the best because I used my Iphone 4s instead of my Canon 50D. We hopped in [Jesse's] truck and drove on for about 20 or so more minutes, until FINALLY finding the parking "lot". It's basically street parking around and near the beginning of the trail. This is the location of the trail ... The beginning of the hike is a breeze, and actually is really enjoyable to stroll through and enjoy the greenery, since it recently rained. Jesse found this cool plant, in the tree, that reminded me of something you'd find under, or near, the ocean. Don't you just love nature? Ah. I didn't take any more pictures until we got to the falls, because it was too dangerous; and to be honest, I fell HARD and cut up my hands. Oops. I'm never one to fall when I hike, nor am I clumsy, so I was pretty mad at myself (and the hike) for making me fall. The trails get extremely steep! So steep that people have actually added rope in at the top, and thrown it down the hill (or cliff) for assistance. At times it is near to impossible to move on further, without using rope. People were slipping, sliding, and falling all over the place. Like I said, come prepared for this hike!!! This is one example of a cliff that one cannot simply climb down, without a rope. Believe me, it looks so simple in this picture, but it was either you jump 12 or so feet, or carefully step down; gripping the rope for your life! Or was that just me? But I think the tree roots are pretty cool! Jesse had told me that the last time he did the hike, he caught TWO rattle snakes! Fortunately, we hiked it just after a recent rainfall, so we didn't see any. Once we reached the top, we turned around and noticed the trail we had hiked. See how steep it is?? Jesse ran ahead of me to jump on these rocks. I stared at them and they reminded me of a camo-type print; with all of the greens, making it almost monochromatic. Jesse is a Navy rescue swimmer, so, naturally, he blended in and I couldn't find him.. ;) Please note: These waterfalls are extremely hard to capture in a picture. The true beauty lies in the naked eye, in person. After almost crying, and swearing to myself (on the way to the falls) that I would never hike it again, I'm positive I will! It took us around 4.5 hours to hike it, including time that we sat and enjoyed the view at the top. One of the best moments, was when we were almost to the car, both exhausted and wanting food, a bed and some sleep; and we saw this... No words can capture this feeling. All in all, the most difficult hike I've ever done, but so worth it! Picture of the day, you ask? We drove passed these beautes on our way back!
Thanks for reading! Until next time! Ciao Jesse and I had been talking about going to the flower fields, but we didn't know they were already open! He had the day off, so we decided what better day to go, than today? We started out our day having brunch at Cafe Elysa (AKA the best stuffed french toast ever!) Jesse was SO excited, to say the least. I had been once before and obsessed over the stuffed coconut french toast! It is so fresh and just, yummy! I ordered the coconut stuffed french toast, and he the strawberry. I got a standard latte and he ordered the "Milky Way Mocha". Jesse is more of a "I only drink black coffee, with occasional creamer" type of person; so, I encouraged him to try the mocha. He definitely enjoyed it. Here he is posing with his french toast. He was so excited! [Note: the lady in the background has a cat (full grown house cat!) in that backpack!] It was hard to focus on every word Jesse was saying, because that lady was having FULL conversations with her cat. Don't get me wrong, I'm a full-blown cat lady; however, I would never put a leash on it, like her, and take it to brunch with me. Or would I? Anyway, We also ordered the ham and cheese quiche, which i HIGHLY recommend, as well!!! YUM! Next, we walked around downtown Carlsbad a bit. Here's Jesse lookin' all dapper and stuff. I blushed when I just posted that pic there! We walked on the train tracks for fun, until the Coaster actually came! Lol. He wanted to take my pic, so I taught him how to use my camera, and he did pretty well! He was all proud of taking a close-up of a bee on a pretty flower. We walked down to the Carlsbad Village Art and Antique Mall and spent a good hour and a half walking around. It's HUGE! It gave us so many creative ideas! On our way back, we walked through the Carlsbad Chocolate Bar. They sell amazing individual chocolates, wines, and other cute knick-knacky things. We passed this cute, tiny church, took some more pictures and headed to the flower fields. If you aren't familiar, The Carlsbad Flower Fields have been around for over 60 years, as a tourist attraction; in San Diego. There are almost fifty acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers, that are available to see for two months each year. All of the colors in the fields are so unreal, and even more amazing up close. And, without further adieus I present to you...The beautiful Carlsbad Flower Fields. [Random snippet: Lately I have been seeing this reoccurring theme of purple flowers everywhere I go. I noticed it at the flower fields too! It makes me happy because my dad's favorite color was purple!] Jesse and I both notice every little detail..you will see this through our journey! We both were obsessed with this arrow sign; so, naturally, he took a picture in front of it! We crack each other up! The flowers are in rows by color, but, we couldn't help but love the randoms that wanted to be with the pink flowers. I don't blame them! What an amazing and beautiful day it was. If you have a chance to go to the flower fields, I would definitely recommend it. Now, these are two of fav pics of the day! Can you say "candid"? Thanks for reading!! Until next time! Ciao!
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AuthorA passionate lover of food, adventure, traveling, and enjoying life! Archives
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